Beatles News
In Many Years From Now, Barry Miles’ 1997 biography of Paul McCartney, the Beatle recalled writing the melody for a set of John Lennon lyrics that eventually became “In My Life,” the immortal meditation on memory that Lennon sang on Rubber Soul.
Now, a pair of academics claims that statistical analysis proves there is less than a one in 50 chance of McCartney having written the music to the song.
“As I recall, he didn’t have a tune to it,” McCartney told Miles. “I said, ‘Well, you haven’t got a tune, let me just go and work on it.’ And I went down to the half-landing, where John had a mellotron, and I sat there and put together a tune. … I recall writing the whole melody. And it actually does sound very like me, if you analyze it.”
Source: ultimateclassicrock.com
"The walrus" may have been Paul, but Paul was not, and seemingly never will be, dead.
The immortal (he's 76) and incomparable Paul McCartney recently took a solo stroll across the famous Abbey Road intersection, forever associated with the cover of the 1969 Beatles album "Abbey Road." And while doing so, the former Beatle explained once and for all that there was no hidden message behind going barefoot the first time. Instead, CNN reported McCartney claims it was hot that day, and he kicked off his sandals. Why walking on the hot road in bare feet was more comfortable than having shoes on is unclear, meaning McCartney has replaced one Beatles riddle with another.
Source: The Lowell SunUpdated/lowellsun.com
He was the fifth Beatle, but you’d never know it. He was a Knight of the British Empire, but you probably didn’t know that either. He was Sir George Martin and he worked on over 400 recordings by artists from the Beatles to Celine Dion.
Join Tom Engelmann to enjoy the recordings of this under-appreciated producer and arranger on another edition of “Unsung Heroes, Influential but Overlooked Masters of Modern Music." Tune in on your radio or online, Monday, July 30 at 8 p.m. on Montana Public Radio.
Source: Tom Engelmann
It has to do with prank calls.
Way before they ever thought of forming a band called The Beatles, John Lennon, George Harrison and Paul McCartney all knew each other in freaking high school. And, during this time McCartney has just revealed why he and Lennon didn’t write down or record their earliest songs. When presented with an opportunity to use recording equipment, the pair apparently decided to create material for prank call instead.“We borrowed one once, and put a few songs on it,” McCartney told Jarvis Cocker in a Facebook Live interview on Wednesday when asked how he and John Lennon remembered their early songs. McCartney explained that recording equipment was expensive, and when they used a borrowed huge tape recording machine, they didn’t really spend much time putting their music on it.
Source: By Ryan Britt/fatherly.com
Sir Paul McCartney was almost known by a different name, he has revealed as he visited his old school.
The Beatles singer told a Q and A session with students at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts (Lipa) on Wednesday he had considered a stage name of Paul Ramon in an effort to appear more glamorous and joked he might return to it.
The star, who also announced he would play a secret gig somewhere in Liverpool on Thursday, said while the band was on tour with singer Jonny Gentle in Scotland he began introducing himself to girls with the alternative name, while band mate George Harrison would introduce himself as Carl Harrison and John Lennon would call himself Long John Silver.
He said: "We did think we had to be more glamorous."
Source: belfasttelegraph.co.uk
Paul McCartney has returned to the famous Liverpool club credited with being the birthplace of the Beatles.
The 76-year-old played an exclusive performance Thursday at the Cavern Club — the cellar bar where the Fab Four played in their early years.
Some 270 fans packed into a sweltering room to watch McCartney after lining up for free tickets at the Echo Arena box office after the gig was announced.
“Liverpool. Cavern,” McCartney said as he opened the show. “Those are words that go together well.”
McCartney played the guitar and the keyboard in a performance which lasted almost two hours. He played Beatles classics including “Love Me Do,” ″I Saw Her Standing There” and “Get Back,” as well as songs from his new album “Egypt Station.”
The Beatle dropped a hint about the gig during an appearance on Wednesday at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts. Word spread, and fans gathered outside the club before running to the arena to seek tickets.
Source: apnews.com
The Beatles icon shared his thoughts on formal music education, new music and how the toilet is a good place to write music...
Paul McCartney took part in a Q&A with Jarvis Cocker today at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts (LIPA), a school he founded in 1996.
Offering a “new approach to performing arts training” LIPA offers arts training that is both different and out of the ordinary – a bit like McCartney’s own music training which had little formality.
In his chat today, McCartney shared his wisdom on why old school recording techniques are still the best, why musicians should return to making “concept albums” and why, crucially, the bathroom is the best place to write your music.
Here is, the wisdom of Macca…
Source: Elizabeth Aubrey /nme.com
If the Beatles’ “I Feel Fine” was the first pop song to make artful use of feedback, their next #1 holds its own historical production distinction. “Eight Days A Week” is the first song to open with a fade-in. Spending hours recording the song over and over, the band tried to figure out how to open it up. They settled on that sound: acoustic and electric guitars getting louder and louder, like the sound of a train approaching. They’re playing a riff together, one that sounds a bit like the one Rod Stewart would use on “Maggie May” years later, one that they abandoned as soon as the song kicks in. And maybe it’s too exciting, since the rest of the song never quite measures up.
Source: Tom Breihan/stereogum.com
In 1968, The Beatles got in a yellow submarine and sailed away to the sea of green – on screen at least – in an animated caper designed to fulfil their three-picture contract for United Artists, without much effort on their part.
It could have sunk without a trace, a cinematic curio of the flower power age. Yet Yellow Submarine has become an enduring cult classic. The yellow sub can be found on all sorts of merchandise, from socks and tea infusers to Lego sets and Monopoly boards. Rumour has it, it’s even one of the Queen’s favourite films.
It may boast almost absurdly of-its-era psychedelic visuals and a tripped-out narrative, but its appeal isn’t as the stoner’s background movie of choice: Yellow Submarine has also become a children's favourite. “That film works for every generation,” George Harrison himself decreed.
Source: Holly Williams/bbc.com
As part of a well-choreographed promotional campaign for his upcoming studio album, Egypt Station, and accompanying “Freshen Up” tour, Paul McCartney returned to Liverpool today (July 25) for an interview at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. The wide-ranging “Casual Conversation” (in Macca speak), streamed live via Facebook, covered his schooldays there when he would occasionally be caned by a tormenting headmaster known as “the Baz,” sharing pranks and collaborating on songs with John Lennon, musicians he admired (notably Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra) and, of course, his new album.
Earlier this week, McCartney reenacted the Beatles famous walk across Abbey Road and followed it by playing a surprise concert at London’s Abbey Road Studios. He’s said he plans to do several club dates this year and revealed to the crowd assembled at LIPA’s auditorium that there would be another surprise concert in Liverpool the next evening, which turned out to be at the Cavern Club.
Source: Best Classic Bands Staff/bestclassicbands.com
